Friday, April 7, 2023

Miscellaneous Incidents Of Travel; Or, Interim Update #1,276; Or, From DC to Barcelona In Several Swell Foops

By April 4th we were all packed-up and ready to go, and so spent that day getting our steps in DC, and especially at the National Gallery, where Vicki stimulated the local economy and we both greatly enjoyed the impressive Impressionist collection; again. On April 5th, we embarked for Barcelona, following our usual somewhat indirect frequent flyer path, by way of Chicago and Brussels. The trip did not begin well, with a 2 hour weather delay at IAD (bad weather in Chicago), nor end well, with an airport ground workers' job action in Barcelona (delayed luggage); but otherwise it was OK. The flight from ORD to BRU was sufficiently empty that we both had our own rows to ourselves. We got to Barcelona in the mid-afternoon April 6th, rode the metro 20-some stops, and then, at great length, a pied, found our new abode, on Carrer d'Ali Bei, near the Arc de Triomf, a large studio in a newish building. And crashed. 

On the Mall in DC; so full of symbolism, allusion...

Never miss a Van Eyck; here, his Annunciation,
1434; ever more symbolism, allusion...in the National
Gallery

Rene Ssance, St. Veronica Displays Her New Tea Towel, 1470

In Rachel's Washington neighborhood; good luck with
that

At Dulles, the best bronze model of an airport ever, so far; the Silver 
Line took more than an hour from Metro Center, but, at $3 pp, was a pretty
great travel bargain 

Stormy City

The house that chewing gum built (Wrigley Field)...

The Brussels shopping mall with airplanes was impressive,
especially emphasizing the wonderful Belgian products; the
Magritte store certainly caught our attention and interest

Ce n'est pas un magasin... wait, no...

Um, interesting Magritte fridge magnet I did not buy

Magritte socks for every occasion

Our Barcelona apartament (Catalan) as seen from outer space
(red Google pin in exact center)


Nearby: Barcelona's Arc de Triomf; it's semana santa here, as I write,
everything in full Easter Bunny mode, and a good opportunity for us
to work through the jet lag without missing anything of significance

1 comment:

Tawana said...

So glad you made it and had plenty of room on your flight...that is amazing these days! Loved the photos of our stormy city. It was sunny today!